We're only days away from Apple's iPad mini unveiling, Microsoft's Windows 8 and Surface launch, as well as Google's October 29 event, and to top it all off we're now hearing about Apple's iPad 4.

Yes, iPad 4. This would be Apple's fourth-generation slate, and the photo above is of the purported iPad 4's lightning dock connector. The photo compares it to Apple's fourth-generation iPad dock, to the iPad mini dock, where the connector looks to be a completely new design.

This would then lean credit toward a fourth-generation iPad sporting a totally redesigned interior in order to house different components. It shouldn't just be a refreshed lightning dock connector for the third-gen iPad, but something new entirely. Apple are going to need it as competition in the tablet space is heating up, and fast.